ASK most kids if they fancy a trip to an art exhibition and you’re unlikely to get an overly-enthusiastic answer.
But what if that art exhibition included a ball pit, an enormous bouncy castle and flying balloons? You might suddenly have a mini art critic on your hands.
Step in the Balloon Museum, which last graced the UK in 2023 with its EmotionAir: Art you can feel exhibition at Old Billingsgate in 2023.
It’s now back, this time at Immerse London on Excel Waterfront with its latest offering EUPHOЯIA – Art is in the Air.
The concept of the Balloon Museum is that it’s a new way to experience contemporary art, with large-scale installations created by international artists including Turner Prize winner Martin Creed.
EUPHOЯIA in particular, invites those artists to use air and inflatable materials “as a contemporary artistic language” that “invites visitors to explore, interact and see the familiar in unexpected ways.”
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It’s fair to say all of this went entirely over my seven year old’s head on our visit, both literally and figuratively speaking.
Because while it might be about art, it’s also A LOT of fun.
Our first stop was a giant glass-walled room filled with enormous balloons that you have to push your way through to reach the end.
There was also a room filled with large inflatable cubes that we used to build an enormous fort, one with an enormous bed that could fit 20 people and a giant Covid virus-style inflatable, among others.
But our favourites were the huge ball pit bigger than a ballroom, the most enormous bouncy castle I’ve ever seen – at least 25m in length and filled with inflatables, a balloon whirlwind and a very clever mechanical tree that dropped bubbles filled with smoke.
Of course, all of this also made for some incredible photo opportunities too.
We’ve got about a gazillion grinning selfies from our visit – the hallmark of every great Millennial day out.
So will my son now be requesting a membership to the Tate Modern on his Santa List? Probably not.
But he will definitely be far more open to my next suggestion of a trip to a gallery… how to explain there won’t be any inflatables to play with once there is another matter altogether.
Tickets for EUPHOЯIA – Art is in the Air at ExCeL London, Royal Victoria Dock, from £20 for children and £26 for adults, with family tickets from £59.